facts
3 deans have left this academic year - the 4th is finishing in June
current president will remain as adviser to incoming president until December 2018
military conscription means high school men will have to complete military service before being able to enroll in any tertiary institution - Qatari enrollment will be affected
nearly a half dozen new tertiary institutions will be opening their doors this coming September (or have done so already) - enrollment (Qatari and expat) will be affected
possible major changes in housing to come (tender advertised today for 122 units)
CNA in NL is laying employees off (unionized and contract)

No faculty has a contract beyond July 2019 as of today. International consultants are reviewing the current status and preparing for advising on the future of CNAQ.

If you are single and no serious financial commitments that must be met. A one year contract might be doable. Families or those with dependents or other commitments should consider carefully until the transition occurs.

[If you are single and no serious financial commitments that must be met. A one year contract might be doable. Families or those with dependents or other commitments should consider carefully until the transition occurs.[/quote]

Hi Kelly!! May I ask where you came across this information, regarding hiring?

On the 15th at a CNAQ "town hall" meeting, faculty were told that the new MO for the college is being developed. That means life will continue as new Deans are hired. Faculty will also be required too. Naturally, the best qualified ones will be hired - as should always happen.

In addition, it was mentioned by the out-going President that the Qatari sponsors and other Qatari hoi-poloi are saying that CNAQ is the best TVET in the country and that they are happy with what CNAQ is doing in terms of "nation building" training.

Once the Board approves the new "contract/collective agreement", everyone will know the specific details regarding compensation, duration of the contracts, and even if there will be gratuities for service - instead of pensions. ATM, there is no point in speculating with "the sky is falling" types of innuendo.

I spoke with some friends in the language program at CNAQ. Here's the latest.

- Class sizes and enrolment are up for the Fall 2018 semester. Class sizes are now close to 20, and have more international students.
- No contracts yet, but word on campus is contracts may be out in February.
- A housing change may be in the works as one of the accommodations' lease is set to expire.
- Regarding some other posts, to clarify for anyone reading here:
- CNAQ is the best TVET college in the country - a common line at town hall meetings quoted by the upper management. It's true because its the only TVET college in the country.
- the best qualified will be hired - language program hasn't hired anyone since 2015 at the instructor level. However, with class sizes and enrolment up, that may change next year. At the management level and instructor level, people I know at CNAQ, now and past, have questioned the fairness of the hiring/renewing processes at the college.
- gratuities instead of pensions - the colleges stance on gratuities is well-known. There is no pension program for college employees at CNAQ beyond the CPP offered to Canadian residents. However, gratuities are said to be coming in the new contracts. This is welcome news.

There are no gratuities at CNAQ because the contract is a Canadian one. With the changes in CNAQ 2.0 the contract will follow Qatari law - which obviously will mean being paid in QAR, deposits into Qatari banks, and a severace. No terms have been made public....

As no one knows what the benefits package will be, it is MERE SPECULATION to comment on when the contract will be offered, what the terms are, and who will be offered a new Qatari contract when the current Canadian contracts end this summer.

This situation seems intolerable for some Canadians, BUT I'll bet they did not know they were coming to CNAQ 9 months before they received their contract. Get serious, there will be time to decide if they want to accept the contract (if one is offered to them) or to reject it - and return to Canada or to go elsewhere.

FWIW - while this website is for the teaching of English and the previous comment that at CNAQ "the best qualified will be hired - language program hasn't hired anyone since 2015 at the instructor level" is true, it is true for hiring English teachers only. But, CNAQ has hired a LOT of instructors in IT, Business, Engineering, Health Sciences and in Maths/Sciences. English teacher hiring is static at the moment. Unsure of Communications....

‘MERE SPECULATION regarding when contracts will be offered’ - I never presented my comment on this as a anything else, it’s just the rumor mill as mentioned by friends working there at the instructor level in the language program.

‘There are no gratuities at CNAQ because the contract is a Canadian one’ - Instructors hired since 2013 are required to sign the contract on Canadian soil or have it signed by a power of attorney who is on Canadian soil. But making comments like ‘there’ll be gratuities instead of pensions’ doesn’t represent the reality of the benefits of offered in this area. CNAQ doesn’t have a pension scheme for its employees, there is just a Canada Pension Plan deduction for residents. It is well known locally here in Doha and internationally about the stance of CNA regarding CNAQ and ESG. They are up front about it and it’s specifically referenced in their contracts, so anyone working here does so under full knowledge that they will not receive this particular benefit.

To further clarify:
‘I’ll bet they did not know they were coming to CNAQ 9 months before they received their contract’ / ‘Get serious, there will be time to decide ... or go elsewhere.’

Here’s a general overview of being recruited to teach in the Language program at CNAQ.
2015 intake
1. Application - Applications made in Dec/Jan/Feb for the next academic year.
2. Interview - done over phone, with multiple people. Reps from both CNA and CNAQ conduct the interview. This happens around Feb/March.
3. Job offer - made in May/June.

2014 intake
30+ teachers are told the day before April break they won’t be getting renewed due to cutbacks. The cutbacks were the worst kept secret on campus. The President at CNAQ mentioned in the town hall that they knew they’d be cutting positions much earlier, as far back as Dec of the previous year. In the end, all expired contracts were not renewed and a portion of contracts were cut early.

2013 intake
the collective agreement gets renewed in February. Instructors get contract offers in Mid-June. Upper management was quiet on that front from Feb to June when the contract offers came out. A few teachers were not offered contracts that particular year.

In the end, its up to each instructor to do their research and make their decisions informed ones. In the last few years, no one in the language program actually got a contract 9 months before arriving. As for going elsewhere, some came back after the job cuts, and some did in fact go elsewhere. Whenever the contracts come out, if I’ll write another update on the situation then.

It seems that a few of those ranting (at CNAQ) about preparing to leave because they don't know what the new contract will offer, are now changing their tunes. After ranting, they have now noticed there are few jobs in Canada to return to and now are changing their minds and are planning to stay.

Yes, no EFL staff hired since 2015 (or so) but plenty of new hires in IT, Business, Engineering, Health Science, Maths, and ...

After all, CNAQ is a TVET college not a language school... One definite unknown at this time is whether hiring will be open to other nationalities in areas that do not require Canadian certified instructional staff (like in Health Sciences for example).

I can't comment on the people ranting because it's not what I hear from my friends. However, there probably are people ranting. Regarding the comment that there are few good jobs to return to it's worth noting there are in fact good openings for teaching English as a language as well as other fields in education. The interim Dean of Language Studies/Academics took a nice post with a college based out of Ontario. Other people who've left the college are now in Canada, Oman, Saudi, Kazakhstan, etc.

I suspect in the end, some people just get a sort of tunnel vision about things. They'll rant and they'll complain but in the end they'll sign another contract. From what I've seen, when people in that situation sign more contracts, they're staying because they've settled in. It's easier to stay put than it is to relocate.

All said, I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for CNAQ. I'm very curious to see when the contracts are announced, how many positions may be available, and whether or not there'll be competition for the openings.